The Enemy Within
by SGVero
Summary: Shalimar is captured by the GSA and returns to Sanctuary, seemingly unharmed. Brennan doesn't believe her miraculous escape, and when he finds out the truth of her disappearance, he must make the ultimate decision...


Author's Note: This is a story I wrote for my English class, so I had to explain everything in the beginning… :P It was annoying at first, I wrote the story and then realized "Hey, my teacher probably doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about…" XD So I had to go back and fix things. Hope you like it! Sorry it's so short, it had to be a maximum of 5 pages (I wrote seven and had to cut things, that was long, hard and very painful. --) so yeah. Enjoy!

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"Adam, come on. Maybe I'm the only one who's noticed, but she hasn't been acting herself lately."

"Brennan, if you had just spent three weeks of your life in Genomex, you wouldn't be acting yourself either."

Brennan Mulwray sighed angrily. About a month ago, Shalimar Fox, vital member of Mutant X - a team of genetically modified humans with supernatural abilities consisting of herself, Brennan, Emma DeLauro, and Jesse Kilmartin that Adam Kane, one of the genetic engineers, had put together to help rescue other new mutants out in the world - had been captured by the Genetic Security Agency on a false rescue mission. Mason Eckhart, the leader of the agency and one of the lead genetic engineers that had helped in the experimentations with genetics and the creation of "new mutants", had planted a fake distress call into the database of the computers at Sanctuary – Mutant X's headquarters – knowing that Adam would try to rescue the new mutant. It was during this fake mission that Shalimar went missing. Three weeks after her disappearance she had appeared in Sanctuary one morning claiming to have escaped from Genomex – the GSA headquarters – unharmed. While Adam and the rest of Mutant X had welcomed her return with relatively open arms, Brennan, while welcoming her warmly, had remained suspicious of her story. It was extremely rare that anyone left Genomex truly unscathed.

Adam shrugged. "There's no proof that there's anything wrong with her."

Brennan growled in impatience. "You know I'm the last one who'd want to believe there's something wrong with Shal, but this whole situation screams fishy."

"Then what do you propose I do?" Adam glared into Brennan's eyes, frustration and patience well over their limits. "What do I do, Brennan? Her scan was flawless, and apart from acting a bit out of the ordinary which, given recent events, is expectable, she's appeared to be absolutely fine!"

"But I-" Brennan began, but his sentence was cut short as the door to the room slid open, revealing Shalimar's perfect figure.

"Guys, Proxy Blue's got something weird going on… What's up with you two?"

"Nothing," Brennan and Adam said in unison. They sent each other a glare before following Shalimar out of the room to the central computer. Proxy Blue - a computer program which is quite similar to modern day news - was on screen, displaying a photo of what looked like Genomex.

"This is one mansion you don't want to dream of having," the voice of Proxy Blue said. "It might look like anyone's dream house, but don't let its appearance fool you. We'll have the inside scoop soon, so stay tuned. By the end of-"

"Off." In response to Adam's voice command, the computer magically shut itself off, Proxy Blue's voice dying mid-sentence. Adam turned to face Brennan and Shalimar, a grave expression haunting his already pallid features. "If someone, somehow, gets inside Genomex and reports back to Proxy Blue... The world of new mutants will be exposed as we know it."

Brennan frowned. "What can we do about it?"

"I say we go see Eckhart and make a temporary truce with him."

"What!" Brennan whirled to face Shalimar, disbelief flooding his thoughts. "Shal, are you crazy! Making a truce with Eckhart is like signing our own death sentences!"

Shalimar shrugged. "Fine, let some guy get into Genomex and expose us. That's really going to help us out, Brennan."

"There has to be another way." Brennan turned to Adam, seeking for help. "Adam, tell Shal that it's pure suicide to barge into Genomex and expect Eckhart to work with us."

Adam sighed. "Sorry Brennan, but she's right. It's the only option we have right now."

Brennan stared at Adam, stupefied. "I don't believe this." Muttering under his breath, he turned his back on Adam and Shalimar and began to walk away, his course set in the direction of the hangar which held the Double Helix – a special aircraft that Adam had constructed to enable them to move about the world swiftly and freely.

Adam sighed as he started to follow him, but stopped as he realized Shalimar had remained motionless. He turned his head. "Shalimar?"

"I think one of us should stay here; you know, hold down the fort."

An uneasy frown played across Adam's face, but he could not find a reason to oppose her statement. Sighing, he said, "Fine. Keep us updated on Proxy Blue."

"Will do." Shalimar watched as Adam raced after the three other members of Mutant X. A devilish smirk played across her lips when they finally disappeared and the roar of the Double Helix taking off echoed in her ears.

"On." The central computer sprang to life; Shalimar leaned over and her fingers were soon a blur across the keyboard. In a matter of minutes she was into the new mutant database; a list of all new mutants and the addresses of new mutant safe houses popped up on the screen.

"This was too easy," she purred, smiling as she reached into her pocket and drew out a peculiar looking cell phone. After punching in a few numbers, she placed the cell phone to her ear.

"Eckhart, I'm in."

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"Tell me why Shalimar isn't coming again."

"She chose to stay behind and give us any updates on Proxy Blue."

Brennan shook his head. Shalimar never stayed behind; this was more unlike her than anything else he had previously noticed. She loved action and never missed an opportunity to join in on it. To him, this proved his point further that there was something wrong with her; but again, no one else seemed to see what Brennan saw as a problem.

Regardless, Brennan followed his teammates into Eckhart's office. A chair situated behind a desk in the center of the room swiveled around, revealing a gray-haired man who was impeccably dressed.

"Adam, what a wonderful surprise!"

"Drop the sarcasm, Mason. I wouldn't be here if I had the choice."

Eckhart gently placed his hands on his desk. "May I then inquire as to the occasion of your presence?"

Adam frowned. "You haven't seen Proxy Blue today?"

"Ah yes, that's right. I nearly forgot about the fake Proxy Blue episode I had implanted into your database." Smirking, Eckhart added, "It had the appearance of a live report, did it not? I must give my regards to my graphics designer; her immaculate ability in such a field is quite invaluable."

Brennan's eyes widened. "Wait… Does that mean-"

"It means exactly what you think it means, Mr. Mulwray," Eckhart stated, his voice full of mockery. "Ms. Fox has been of utmost help in this little charade. As it stands, Ms. Fox is downloading all the information you have stored in your database onto a disc that she will bring to me."

Brennan shook his head. "It's not possible! Shalimar would never do that!"

"I didn't give her much of a choice." Eckhart smiled. "As powerful as Ms. DeLauro may be with her psychic powers, I have enlisted the help of an agent who is twice as powerful in the field of mind control. As a matter of fact…" Eckhart stole a glance at his watched and smiled. "Ms. Fox should be arriving here momentarily."

Brennan swore and, whirling on his heels, ran out of the room. He was almost immediately jumped by three GS agents that had appeared seemingly out of thin air. Rage blinded his judgment as he clamped his hands together, channeling the electrical energy of his body into his hands and into actual bolts of electricity. He roared and shot the electricity at the guards, knocking them out on impact.

"Damnit!" Brennan cursed as he took off down the hallway. He had no specific destination, but he just wanted to get out, to escape from this nightmare.  
"Hey Brennan!"

Brennan stopped dead in his tracks, the familiar voice like a soft melody playing sweetly in his ears. He turned around to see Shalimar at the end of the hall, poised in front of one of the many computers of the Genomex facility. To his horror, he was just able to make out a red square-shaped disc in Shalimar's hand.

"Shal, don't do it!"

Shalimar cocked her head to one side. "I'm sorry honey, do what?"

"Get away from the computer, Shal." Brennan outstretched his arm as electrical energy was once again channeled into his fingertips. His hand was engulfed in a bluish glow and he aimed towards Shalimar.

"Ha! You wouldn't dare throw electricity at me. I know you, Brennan!" Shalimar laughed as she held out the disc. She turned to the computer and reached to insert the disc into the computer tower.

"Damnit!" Brennan closed his fist, killing the electrical energy flowing out of his hand. He broke into a sprint and managed to close the distance between himself and Shalimar and tackle her to the ground before the disc was fully inserted.

"You want a fight, do you?" Shalimar yelled, swiftly getting to her feet. Her leg swung out from under her, her foot making direct contact with the side of Brennan's head. Brennan cried out as he crashed to the floor, dazed by Shalimar's powerful kick.

"Hmph." Shalimar stepped over his body and swung her leg into his stomach. Ignoring his outcry of pain, she turned back to the computer. With one finger she pushed the disc in; she smiled as a window popped up on screen, prompting the choice to save the files of the disc onto the computer.

Brennan grunted and raised his head from the ground. "I'm sorry," he muttered. He closed his eyes and, holding his breath, channeled a bit of electrical energy into his hands – not enough to necessarily kill her, but enough to knock her out – and unleashed the energy at her. His heart nearly broke as he heard her cry out in pain before her body slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Brennan slowly got to his feet and stepped over to the computer. He declined the request to copy the files of the disc and immediately retrieved the disc from the tower. He growled and tossed the disc into the air; he swiftly summoned electrical energy into his left hand and shot the electricity at the disc. He sighed with relief as the disc exploded into millions of tiny pieces.

"Shal," he breathed, and dropped to his knees beside her. He patted her gently on the cheeks, called out her name, clapped loudly to get her attention – but nothing worked. She was out cold; he only hoped that the electricity hadn't been enough to kill her.

"Brennan!"

Brennan looked up, and through the tears forming in his eyes he saw Adam, Jesse and Emma running towards him. He sighed and picked up Shalimar's limp body in his arms, unable to tear his gaze away from her beautiful face.

"You did what you had to do, Brennan," Adam said softly. "Let's get her back to Sanctuary."

Brennan nodded as the group miraculously snuck out of the building and into the Double Helix waiting hidden outside. Brennan sat with Shalimar in his arms the whole ride back, gently stroking her hair and whispering into her ear that she was now safe. He only hoped that he spoke the truth, though one thing he knew for certain.

Eckhart was going to pay dearly for hurting the one he loved.

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That's it! Hope you enjoyed it. PS: Shalimar is NOT DEAD. I could never kill her, she's my favourite character and I love her! (Brennan's my second favorite. I'm a big Brennan/Shalimar fan by the way. :D)


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